


Natsu's Weak Stomach, the Matchmaker

by ohmwork



Series: 100 Prompt Challenge [4]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Baseball Player Natsu, F/M, Fluff, Natsu is a good boyfriend, State Fair, hinted elfgreen, hinted gajevy, thats a real warning because i have a emetophobia and i had serious struggle writing this, this wasnt supposed to be cute oops, throwing up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 06:07:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7746070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmwork/pseuds/ohmwork
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natsu absolutely hates the state fair. It’s never thrilled him. The flashing lights give him headaches, the rides make him green just looking at them, the vendors are greedy bastards and the fair food is so overpriced. The only reason he’s even here right now is because his dumb friends.<br/>Alternately...<br/>Natsu absolutely loves the state fair. It’s thrilled him beyond words. The flashing lights bring up memories, the rides are still not for him, but the vendors are cheeky and funny and the fair food is so damn delicious. The only reason he even came tonight is because of his dumb friends. And he’s the luckiest guy alive because of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Natsu's Weak Stomach, the Matchmaker

**Author's Note:**

> hello hello ! So prompt number 5 is Bodily Fluids... and i know these prompts are supposed to all be kinks but for some reason this one turned out to have no sex in it ??? oh well... Also the fair here is modeled after my own County Fair !! Like Huckleberry Ice cream is super popular so its featured, also the Kamakaze the Spider and House of Mirrors. Dunno if other places have these but yeahh. And my friend did throw up on the spider while i was sitting next to him!! it didnt get on me but i did cry and go to the house of mirrors lmao. Anyway, please enjoy ! 
> 
> hailey xx

Natsu absolutely hates the state fair. It’s never thrilled him. The flashing lights give him headaches, the rides make him green just looking at them, the vendors are greedy bastards and the fair food is so overpriced. The only reason he’s even here right now is because his dumb friends.

It’s mostly Elfman’s fault. He wants to impress his girlfriend by showing her how _manly_ he is by smashing a hammer down on a pressure plate. What a catch Evergreen has, what a catch.

Loke came because he can pick up chicks here. Apparently, he doesn’t have enough, yet. Natsu knows of about three that think they’re the only one. No one really approves of his slutty ways, but they also know he’s just trying to cope with his past.

Gajeel came because Levy wanted to. ‘nuff said, that man is whipped like fuckin’ butter.

Gray came because he actually likes it here. Who would have guessed that the stripper likes to hand out at the fair and do stuff? Natsu could have gone his whole life without knowing and they’re best friends for god’s sake! You think you know a guy…

So now, he’s stuck sitting on a dirty bench with some old, greasy tweaker slumped beside him waiting for his stupid friends to get of the _Kamikaze_. The damn contraption could probably kill someone! You go upside down and-

Natsu has to stop thinking about it before he throws up the 6-dollar corn dog he just ate. He decides to walk around. His friends won’t notice he’s missing anyway since they’re too busy actually having fun. Natsu is walking around a huge bouncy house when he sees her.

She’s absolutely gorgeous. Her long blonde hair sits on her shoulders so elegantly and her smile is brighter than any of the lights here. She’s laughing at something her friend said, and it’s the most angelic thing Natsu’s ever heard. And her eyes, oh lord, her eyes are the sweetest brown he’s ever laid eyes on, a mix between honey and dark chocolate.

“Juvia doesn’t think her comment was that funny,” her friend grumbles, looking away with a slight blush on her face. “And she still doesn’t want to ride that with you!”

“Come on, Juvia! It’s not that bad!” The girl whines, pulling on her friend’s arm. Juvia shakes her head. “Fine, I’ll just have to ride with some stranger.”

Natsu nearly runs in line to stand behind this woman. He doesn’t even think about it, he just knows he has to sit with her. He doesn’t even look at the name of the ride.

“Uh, hey,” Natsu calls out to her, rubbing the back of his neck. The girl turns around and gives him a small smile, a smile that could grow the most beautiful flowers. “M’name’s Natsu.”

“I’m Lucy!” Lucy! God, what a gorgeous name!

“Yeah, heh, seems like we’ll be riding together.”

“Yeah, my pansy friend wouldn’t get on here with me!” she laughs again and Natsu’s heart skips a beat. Or maybe it stopped because only then does he take notice of what ride they’re in line for. “I mean, come on, the Spider isn’t even that bad.”

 _The Spider_ is a ride that spins you around and operates like, well, spider legs. Natsu’s stomach turns and he swallows thickly. He should probably start thinking before acting…

“Oh, yeah,” Natsu chuckles awkwardly, “not that bad.”

The man who opens the gate to let them on is probably about four foot nine. He has long graying brown hair that goes nearly to his elbows and a scrunched up face as if he’s just eaten a whole lemon. He puts them in a black cart and pulls a bar down over their legs all the while telling them safety rules but Natsu isn’t hearing any of it. He’s busy trying to calm himself down.

“Uh, Natsu, are you alright?” Lucy asks. Natsu nods once and keeps his face turned away from her. A hot chick like her doesn’t need to see him pale and nearly sick. “Do you want to get off-“

Before she can even finish asking, the ride starts moving and Natsu grips the bar over his thighs tightly. _Think about something else, think about anything-_ they suddenly drop and Natsu can feel his stomach go with it. But he’s not giving up that expensive corn dog yet. Well that’s what he thought before their cart spun 180 degrees and he lost it. Literally.

Lucy screams, the ride is stopped prematurely, and everyone around is whispering and talking about how some dude just threw up on the Spider. Natsu feels terrible, both because his stomach is threatening another heave and because he just embarrassed the girl beside him.

“I can’t believe you threw up on me!” Lucy cries. Natsu pops his eyes open and she’s right. Now he feels even worse.

They’re taken off the ride and Lucy runs away in the opposite direction. Natsu follows her, but it’s tough through the thickening crowd. Eventually he finds her, sitting behind the House of Mirrors crying in the grass. “Lucy-“

“Why are you here?” she screams at him. Natsu bites his lip.

“I’m sorry, I really am, I-“

“Just go!”

“Okay, I will, but here, take this, to cover up your shirt,” Natsu sighs, yanking off his scarf and handing it over to her. Lucy looks up to him from where her face was buried into her knees. Then she takes it and puts it around her neck.

Natsu walks away, but not without the intent of coming back. He goes to one of the stupid vendors and buys a shirt. It’s a pink one with Minnie Mouse on it and it was 25 bucks. But it’s worth it this time because he threw up on a girl and he feels bad.

When he goes back to the House of Mirrors, her friend is there too, sitting beside her with an arm thrown over her shoulders. And when she sees Natsu, she gets a scary look on her face and jumps up. Natsu nearly runs for his life, but instead he thrusts out the t-shirt and holds an arm over his face.

“What’s this?” Juvia asks, ripping it out of his hands.

“I bought it for Lucy, since I ruined the one she’s wearing,” Natsu explains, looking at Lucy standing up. “I’m really sorry and I figured you wouldn’t want to walk around with a dirty shirt.”

“Thanks, Natsu,” she says, grabbing the shirt and walking out of site to change. Juvia still shoots daggers in Natsu’s direction, though. She comes back out, pulling the shirt down over her midriff, still sporting his scarf.

“If you’ll let me, I’d like to make it up to you,” Natsu says.

“Juvia thinks that is a bad idea! Juvia thinks that _Natsu_ should get his dumb ass out of here before Juvia drowns him!” her friend yells.

“We’re not drowning Natsu, Juvia,” Lucy says. “And besides, he owes it to me for ruining my favorite shirt.” She crosses her arms and glares at Natsu.

“Fine, then Juvia is leaving, Juvia hates the fair.” She stomps away and Lucy sticks her tongue out at her friend.

“Your friend, Juvia, is a little uh,” Natsu starts but doesn’t know how to finish without sounding mean.

“Crazy? Yeah, she is, but I love her.” She smiles softly again and this time Natsu knows the fluttering in his chest is because of her.

* * *

 

“This one looks dumb,” Natsu mumbles to himself as he follows Lucy to a game booth. The goal is to pick up a rubber duck with a certain symbol on it and if you get the right one, you win a prize. “And it’s a dollar per duck.” Good thing he was paid last week.

“Okay, you can pick three, and I’ll pick three,” she says staring at the water as if it were prey. Natsu just reaches in the pool of water and pulls out a random duck. It has a mustache and beard drawn on it with sharpie.

“Aww, I didn’t get any!” Lucy whines. In her hands are three ducks, one princess themed, one maid themed, and one mermaid themed. How did she already pick three? “Natsu?” her eyes flick to him and she looks like a child. Her big brown eyes look so youthful and Natsu really hopes his duck has something on it.

“It says ‘Fuck you’,” Natsu bursts out in giggles, and then full on laughter. Lucy doesn’t seem convinced, grabs it from his hand, and then turns red. She thrusts it in the face of the vendor and he laughs too but takes down a big stuffed dolphin. Lucy still isn’t amused.

“I can’t believe that he would put something so crude on a children’s game!”

“But you won a dolphin, that’s gotta make up for it right?”

Lucy hits him with her dolphin.

Next, he takes her to an even dumber one. You have to toss tiny rings onto Coke bottles from a certain distance away. The prizes aren’t even as cool this time! The biggest one up there is a banana with dreadlocks, which doesn’t even make sense!

“Natsu, are you any good at this game?” Lucy asks, coming back with a rod full of rings. Maybe he should have been careful with how much money he handed her.

“I have no idea.”

Turns out, no, he sucks. He sucks more than Gray does on a Saturday night. The rings are so small and the bottle heads are so close together, it’s impossible. Lucy is still cheering him on though. She tells him he can do it every time he throws a ring. There’s only one left.

“Come on, Natsu, you can do it! You can make it!” Lucy squeals. Natsu feels like he has to now. He threw up on her and he has to make it up by making her forget. He can do it. He can make this last ring go around the bottleneck. He has to!

_Clink!_

He misses and Lucy smacks him on the back of the head.

* * *

 

The sun is starting to set. It’s still light outside, but his shadow is just a little longer and his wallet a little thinner. He needs to find something he can actually do, to win her back over onto his side. She is still giving him crap for the ring toss.

“Here we go, this one, I might be able to actually win you something, Luce!” Natsu says, tugging on her arm.

“The Fastball?” Lucy asks, crossing her arms, dolphin still in hand.

“Well, I hope I can anyway,” Natsu says looking at the board where the speeds are lined up with the prizes. It starts at 40 mph and the big prizes are won at 80 +. Should be easy, right? 3 balls for 5 dollars, 3 chances to get Lucy’s attention again.

Natsu stands behind another guy and his girl. He looks pretty strong, he could probably get a medium prize, Natsu thinks. He kisses his girlfriend, then flexes cockily before throwing the ball. Natsu nearly laughs at his form. He looks like a 5 year old playing catch for the first time!

“38 miles per hour!” the vendor shouts, nearly laughing. His girlfriend looks mortified and then stomps away. Natsu really has to make sure that’s not him and Lucy.

“Natsu! That big guy couldn’t even! Don’t waste your money,” Lucy says tugging on his arm. Natsu shakes her off and gives her a smile.

“Don’t worry, sweets, I got it in the bag,” he says in a dirty New York accent. Lucy rolls her eyes but lets him go.

Natsu steps up, pays his fee, and stands with the ball in his hand. As long has he concentrates, he’ll do just fine. He just has to imagine the path of the ball and take a deep breath.

_In… and out… You can do it, Natsu._

Natsu takes his step and throws the ball to the best of his ability at the target in one swift and smooth movement. In that moment, it’s nothing but him and the ball.

“84 miles per hour, bud!” The vendor yells. Natsu smirks and crosses his arms, looking at a dumbfounded Lucy. “Pick a prize!”

“Say, Luce, which one do ya want?” He asks, reaching up for one. Lucy still doesn’t say anything and just points at the big monkey. Natsu snatches it down and hands it to her.

They’re walking away when Lucy finally says something. “I’m so sorry Natsu! I didn’t think you’d be able to and-“ she starts rambling and Natsu puts a finger to her lips, effectively shutting her up.

“It’s no biggie. I kinda faked you out but saying I hope I could do it. When in reality, I knew I would be able to. I’ve been playing baseball since I was like 7. And I'm the pitcher at the local college.” Lucy grabs his hand off her mouth. “I knew I had to make up for totally sucking at the ring toss,” Natsu chuckles.

“You didn’t have to worry about that,” Lucy mumbles, looking down at the ground.

Natsu notices how she doesn’t let go of his hand once they start walking again.

* * *

 

After the Fastball, he wins her a fish with ping-pong balls in little bowls of colored water. Lucy said she’ll name it Pinky and when Natsu asked why she just blushed and told him he was an idiot. He didn’t argue.

Now they’re heading toward the food booths. The sun is behind the hills to the west but the sky is still a muted orange and yellow.

“You know, the sky is almost as beautiful as you, right now,” Natsu leans down to whisper in Lucy’s ear. He can see her blush even though she tries to hide it.

“Shut up,” she refutes. Natsu just smiles and wraps his free hand around her waist. His other is currently holding the huge monkey from the Fastball. “Have you ever had a Dough Boy?” she asks, pointing to a trailer near the end of the pathway. Natsu shakes his head. “Oh, we’re getting a Dough Boy!”

“M’kay, but you won’t fit in line like that. I’ll go find us a place to sit, hand me the dolphin.”

Natsu wonders off to find an empty bench. Evening is always the busiest, which is usually Natsu’s cue to leave. He used to just tell his friends that looking at the rides made him feel queasy and he’d drive home, but now he doesn’t mind looking like a complete idiot with a giant monkey in one arm and a dolphin in the other.

“Natsu?” A voice says from behind him. Natsu turns around and sees Gray sitting at a picnic bench. Natsu smiles and sits across from him, tossing the toys on the seat beside him. “What’re those? I thought you hated fair games?” Gray gives him a funny look and Natsu rolls his eyes.

“They’re not mine. I’m with this girl Lucy,” Natsu says.

“You ditched us for a hot chick?”

“Hey, you guys are doing shit I don’t like, so yeah I left. I wasn’t just gonna sit on some crusty bench waitin’ while y’all were having fun.”

“So you’re following a girl around instead?”

“Actually, I threw up on her and I’m trying to atone for-“ Natsu is interrupted by Gray bursting out laughing. Natsu should have seen that coming. He sits there patiently, waiting for Gray to stop, picking at his nails and twiddling his thumbs.

“That’s _golden_ Natsu!”

“Yeah well I still feel shitty for it.”

“Well yeah, I would hope so,” Gray is still giggling. “Ahh I think I see her coming. She a blonde? She’s kinda cute; if it doesn’t work out with her let me know!” Natsu hits Gray’s arm as he’s getting up and Gray just gives him a thumbs up.

“Who was that?” Lucy asks, sitting where he was.

“My friend, Gray,” Natsu replies, looking down at the food she put on the table. There’s a bowl of some purple ice cream and a paper plate with what looks like a flat piece of bread and cinnamon.

“Oh, well this is the Dough Boy, it’s really good. And this is huckleberry ice cream. I absolutely love it, but I got enough for us to share if you want to try it too.” Lucy starts peeling pieces off the dough and taking bites of it. Natsu follows in her lead and examines the piece thoroughly before putting it in his mouth. He isn’t really apt to trying new things since Gray started cooking.

“Man, that’s really good!” Natsu exclaims, pulling off a bigger bite and shoving it into his mouth, unceremoniously. Lucy laughs at his stuffed face and Natsu blushes and tries to finish it quickly.

“So, I know you’re a baseball player, and that you have a weak stomach, anything else I should know about you, Natsu?” Lucy muses, still giggling a little.

“Uh, I dunno. I love cats and I think ice skating is dumb.”

“Ice skating? Why’s that?”

“Because Gray is a hockey player and he once had me come to the rink on a free skate day and I almost got decapitated by my own skate!” Lucy snorts and shakes her head. “What about you? All I know about you is that you have a crazy friend and you have good taste in fair food.”

“I’m going to school for a degree in theology and I love spicy food,”

“Me too!” Natsu exclaims. “I mean the food part, I have no idea what theology is, but I love spicy food.”

Lucy laughs again and then continues to describe what theology is but Natsu stopped listening a long time ago. He’s too focused on the way her lips form words and the way her hands dance in the air as she describes something, and the way her face shows emotion and-

“Are you even listening to me?” Lucy asks, punching his shoulder lightly.

“Uh, no,” Natsu says sheepishly. Lucy huffs and mumbles something under her breath. “What was that?”

“Nothing, it’s getting kinda late, though, don’t you think?” Lucy says, looking up at the deep blue sky.

Natsu would have to agree, but he doesn’t want this night to end. He doesn’t want to leave Lucy, not yet. He wants to take her to another game or eat another one of these Dough Boys. He wants to spend more time with her. He wants to ask her to say.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Natsu says instead. “I’ll walk you to your car; you couldn’t possibly carry all this anyway.”

They head out to the parking lot. It feels like an eternity has passed. His legs move sluggishly and his head hangs down, only following the black sandals Lucy wears on their way to her car. He nearly runs straight into her when she stops moving.

“This is it,” she says, pulling her keys out of her pocket. “Thanks for getting me a new shirt, and winning me these prizes, I really appreciate it.”

“It was no problem,” Natsu smiles at her, “I mean it’s the least I could do for-“

Lucy cuts him off with a kiss.

It’s not very long but it’s enough. Natsu see fireworks and he feels electricity in his veins and all the clichés because what he feels in the moment Lucy kisses him is everything. Its everything all at once, crashing against him, overwhelming him.

Then she shoves a piece of paper into his palm and jumps in her car. Natsu is still standing there, completely dumbstruck when she drives away. All he can think to do is fist pump and leap into the air shouting, “Yes!”

Natsu absolutely loves the state fair. It’s thrilled him beyond words. The flashing lights bring up memories, the rides are still not for him, but the vendors are cheeky and funny and the fair food is so damn delicious. The only reason he even came tonight is because of his dumb friends. And he’s the luckiest guy alive because of them.

 


End file.
